By VOA News
02 June 2008
Security Council diplomats met first with Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf Monday ahead of discussions with leaders of the opposition Alliance for the Reliberation of Somalia (ARS).
South African ambassador Dumisani Kumalo told Mr. Yusuf that the international community wants to find ways to help Somalia move foward.
The president thanked the Security Council for coming to Djibouti, the site of the talks, in search of lasting peace.
Somalia has endured 17 years of chaos and conflict since the fall of the last stable government in 1991.
The opposition alliance, based in Eritrea, supports an Islamist insurgency that has blocked Mr. Yusuf's interim government from asserting control over the country.
On Sunday, insurgents fired mortars at Mr. Yusuf's plane as he prepared to leave the Mogadishu airport. The president was unharmed in the attack.
Source: VOA, June 02, 2008